China's demand for motor vehicles outweighs every other trading bloc in the world and is one of the main factors behind the surge in profits for Mercedes-Benz.
This is the view of the German carmaker's CEO, who spoke to CGTN from the company's headquarters in Stuttgart on the day it announced group earnings before interest and taxes increased 28 percent to $22 billion. Revenues rose 12 percent to $161 billion.
"The overall Chinese market is bigger than all of Europe and North America put together," Ola Källenius told CGTN.
"It's no surprise the Chinese market is also the most important market for Mercedes. We sell somewhere between 35 and 40 percent of our vehicles in China."
Ola Källenius was at Mercedes-Benz HQ in Stuttgart to discuss the company's jump in profits./ Daniel Roland/AFP
Reflecting on his company's performance in 2022, he added: "It was indeed a very financially robust year for Mercedes-Benz. The secret of our success comes down to the products, technology and products and very attractive portfolio.
"We also launched a new range of electric vehicles that have been received by the market very, very well. And if you marry that with discipline on managing the margin side and on the cost side, we have, in a challenging environment, delivered very good results."
Despite the promising numbers, Källenius has warned of lower earnings in 2023 due to what he calls "economic uncertainty."
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Concerning the challenges ahead, he said: "We're very vigilant about the macroeconomic picture. And of course, we have seen now a period of inflation and that central banks around the world are reacting with increasing interest rates, which probably will increase some more.
"That could dampen, which is the whole point of increasing interest rates, consumer sentiment that's led us to be a little bit more prudent for this year looking into 2023.
"But coming off such a strong year in 2022, we are still guiding for a healthy profitability level."
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